CARWYN JONES, Labour’s leader in Wales, has decided to form a minority administration following last week’s election where he just failed to win a majority – though he has left the door for coalition deals later.
In the wake of Thursday’s elections, which left Labour with 30 out of 60 seats in the Cardiff assembly, Mr Jones made contact with his former coalition partners, the Welsh nationalists, Plaid Cymru, and the Liberal Democrats.
However, speaking in the assembly, he said he had opted for a government “solely of Labour ministers”. He insisted that the new administration would operate without “any triumphalism and with no trace of any political tribalism”.
The election had shown that all of the Welsh parties had “produced manifestos that were full of new ideas and fresh perspectives on how to create a better, fairer and more prosperous Wales in the future”, he said.
Leaving open the possibility of a coalition deal later on, Mr Jones said “some time and space must be afforded to the opposition parties for them to consider what this election has meant for them”.
Meanwhile, a ComRes/ITV poll on the first anniversary of the Conservative-Liberal Democrats government has given the worst yet ratings, with 82 per cent saying they do not trust, or do not know whether to trust, deputy prime minister and Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg.
Half of those polled believe the coalition is “bad for Britain” – last November that figure was 33 per cent.
Some 53 per cent, believe the government’s record so far has been disappointing.
